Timeless Matera, a journey into Italy’s city of stone

Timeless Matera (Matera senza tempo) is an episode of the series of videos aimed at telling about a hidden side of Italy. “Timeless Italy is made up of places considered jewels of the world's heritage and protected accordingly,” reads the caption of the video. “They are places where time seems to come to a standstill and where the human hand is non-existent. Places where the rhythms of nature are marked by the rising and setting sun and by the traveling stars”.
The city of Matera, in the region of Basilicata, southern Italy, is known as the “Città dei Sassi” (city of stones) for its caves naturally carved into rock and then shaped by humans who turned them into an ancient urban centre. Matera’s Sassi have been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1993, as an outstanding example of a traditional human settlement and land-use showing the evolution of a culture which has maintained a harmonious relationship with its natural environment over time – more than two millennia. Also, the city of Matera has been chosen as European Capital of Culture 2019, for its openness and its view aimed at the future, as reads the slogan of its nomination, Open Future.